Seal.



A. B. SGHOFIELD.

PATENTED DEG. 10,1907.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT B. SOHOFIELD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE CORPORATION TRUST COMPANY, TRUSTEE, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORA- TION OF NEW JERSEY.

SEAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 10, 1907.

To all whom it may concern:

' Be it known that I, ALBERT B. SCHOFIELD, a citizen of the United States, and resident of the borough of Manhattan, in the city and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Seals, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to seals and more particularly to that type of seal in which the shackle is formed of heavy wire and the body of some suitable pliable metal as, for example, lead.

The object is to provide a seal which shall be effective and inex ensive.

A practical embo iment of my invention is represented in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a view of the seal in side elevation showing the shackle in position to be inserted in the body, Fig. 2 is a transverse section through the body in the plane of the line AA of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section through the body in the plane of the line BB of Fig. 2, Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view, and Fig. 5 is a transverse section through the body,showing the latter gripped between the jaws of a press to complete the sealing.

The shackle denoted by 1 is preferably formed of stiff heavy wire and is made in loop form with its ends in position to be sprung toward one another to enter the body of the seal, its extreme ends being provided with outwardly turned portions 2 and 3 for the purposes of catching under an internal shoulder within the body of the seal.

The body of the seal is denoted as a whole by 4. It is provided with sockets 5 and 6 entering it at the end where the shackle is to be inserted, the sockets being shown as sepa rated by a central diaphragm or web 7, which diaphragm or web preferably stops short of the end of the body leaving the two sockets merged into one at the end. At the opposite end the body 4 is provided with sockets S and 9 extending inwardly and 0H- set from the line of the sockets 5 and 6, it being the intention that the sockets 8 and 9 shall be ofl-set from the sockets 5 and 6 just the diameter of the sockets 8 and 9 so as to form a juncture with the sockets 5 and 6 where the one laps past the other and in order to make this juncture of the two sockets Wide open for the reception of the ends 2 and The body of the seal is preferably made i with its opposite edges rounded, as shown in the transverse sections, Figs. 2 and 4, or in any event with its corners cut away and it is further the intention to make the opposite edges of the body parallel as distinguished from the tapered form which has heretofore been common.

By making sockets-at the opposite ends of the body and so locating them and forming them that they join within the body of the seal, I provide for drawing the cores in right lines in the casting of the bodies and thus materially lessen the expense of casting while maintaining the hooked or outwardly turned ends 2 and 3 of the shackle completely embedded in the body thereby preventing any liability of their becoming twisted and the seal thereby weakened.

The rounding or cutting of the corners of the body serves a very useful purpose in seating the body in the jaw of a press as, for instance, in the jaw 14 of the press represented in Fig. 5, and centering the body during the action of the plunger 15 which serves to close the body tightly around the ends of the shackle completely embedding the latter within the body and leaving the proper impress on the seal. By making the opposite edges of the seal parallel, a minimum amount of metal is required to produce the necessary strength and the cost of casting is reduced.

What I claim is 1. A seal comprising a shackle having its ends turned to form retaining hooks or shoulders and a body of soft metal having shackle receiving sockets entering it at one end and sockets entering the said body at the opposite end, the said last named sockets being off-set from the shackle receiving sockets and spaced from the sides of the body in position to join the shacklereceiving sockets within the body of the seal, whereby the locking ends of the shackle may be completely housed withinthe body of the seal when the latter is pressed.

2. A sea]. comprising a shackle having outwardly turned ends for retaining it and a soft metal body provided with shackle receiving sockets in one end and flat sided sockets at the opposite end offset from the shackle receiving sockets and arranged to overlap and connect with the shackle receiving sockets.

3. A seal comprising a shackle having hooked retaining ends and a soft metal body having its opposite edges parallel and round ed, the said body being provided with shackle receiving sockets at one end and with sockets at the opposite ends spaced from the sides of the body and off-set from the shackle receiving sockets the said sockets being arranged to lap past the shackle receiving sockets and communicate therewith.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signed my name in presence of two witnesses, this sixteenth day of August, 1905.

ALBERT B. SCHOFIELD.

WVitnesses:

C. S. SUNDGREN, FREDK. HAYNES. 

